International Video Game Hall of Fame Announces Class of 2015

Eleven individuals to be inducted for the International Video Game Hall of Fame and Museum Class of 2015.

In 2010, the International Video Game Hall of Fame and Museum, located in Ottumwa, Iowa, the Video Game Capital of the World, announced and inducted it’s first class. At that time, 29 individuals and one video game were inducted into the IVGHOF. Now, five years later, the IVGHOF is pleased to announce the members of the 2015 class to be inducted at an event in 2016.

The 2015 class of inductees was selected by accomplished gamers, journalists and video game industry executives who have extensive knowledge of the achievements in gaming. We are pleased to announce the following individuals and video games are being inducted:

Gamers
Tim Balderramos, author of “The Perfect Game: Confessions of a Pac-Man Junkie,” holds the Pac-Man World Title, several other world records and is one of the top five Pac-Man players in the world. He retired from competitive gaming June 19, 2008.

Eric Ginner worked on a number of classic games for the Lynx. He also holds a handful of world records on different games

Steve Harris holds world records in Bega’s Battle, Red Alert and Wacko. He was the founding editor of Electronic Gaming Monthly Magazine.

Josh Jones is a notable gamer who was a consummate fundraiser for various causes who passed away unexpectedly this year

Tim McVey, subject of the Man vs. Snake documentary on Nibbler, was the first gamer to achieve a billion points on Nibbler and holder of several Nibbler world records

Thor Aackerland was the winner of the Nintendo World Championships in 1990. He holds two world records on Tetris.

Kat “Mystik” Gunn is a professional gamer and cosplayer who is known for winning the second season of WCG Ultimate Gamer on the SyFy Channel. She has been named the highest earning female gamer in the upcoming Guinness World Records Book Gamer’s Edition.

Game
Defender - Defender was one of the most important titles of the Golden Age, selling over 55,000 units and becoming one of Williams Electronics best selling game and highest grossing arcade game. Game development was led by Eugene Jarvis and was his first video game project.

Game Designer
Eugene Jarvis is a well known game designer and programmer who produced games for Atari, Williams Electronics and Midway Games. He co-founded Vid Kidz and currently runs his own development studio, Raw Thrills Inc. Jarvis was named the first Game Designer in Residence by DePaul University’s Game Development program in 2008.

Industry Leader
Gary Stern, CEO and founder of Stern Pinball, Inc., has grown up with the gaming industry. Stern Electronics was created by his father in 1977 and they created games Stampede and Rawhide. Stern Electronics created both video arcade and pinball machines. Their most popular game, Bezerk, was created in 1980. Stern worked at Stern Electronics before moving on to Data East/Sega before creating Stern Pinball, INc., in 1994. Stern has been a leader in the gaming industry through its ups and downs and his company continues to appeal to gamers worldwide.

Walter Day Lifetime Achievement Award
David Bishop, Executive Vice President of NAMCO, has been involved in the video game industry since 1981 when he joined Barrel of Fun, Inc. as Vice President Technical Services. He moved on to Atari Operations Inc., as Director Operations in 1987. In 1990 he joined NAMCO’s team and has served in a variety of positions in his tenure there. David has been an industry leader, helping to advance NAMCO and gaming with his skills. His most recent project, Level 257, is a prototype arcade featuring a unique dining, entertainment and social experience inspired by PAC-Man.

The induction ceremony will coincide with the annual ICON Trading Card Event to be held in Ottumwa, Iowa, in Summer 2016 with a date to be announced in the near future.

About The International Video Game Hall of Fame
Located in Ottumwa, Iowa, the International Video Game Hall of Fame and Museum is dedicated to honoring excellence in the field of electronic gaming by recognizing the champions, industries and professionals related to this popular activity. We will build and maintain a state-of-the art interactive facility containing historical archive exhibits describing the historic milestones of the video game industry, and preserve significant video gaming relics, memorabilia and artifacts of the times past and present.